2017 VAPPU QUEEN and KING -- LUCIA SALMI AND STEVE KOIVULAThe Person nominated for Queen of May this year has been very active and supportive throughout the years as a member and Director of FASM despite not being Finnish herself. She has been ready to give a helping hand whenever and where ever needed. Over the years she has helped with the lunches, worked at the merchandise table at events, made desserts, brought balloons for decorations for Vappu, made the beet salad when no one else volunteered, grilled hamburgers at the Annual picnic, and the list goes on. With her smile and quiet demeanor/way she offers support through her ideas/suggestions, hands on help, and willingness to do whatever needs to be done.
Also she and her husband, Reynold, are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary!

It is my pleasure to introduce a face that should be familiar to all. I met him 25 years ago when planning FinnFest 94, a 2 year project and undertaking. He moved on from there to be the treasurer for FinnFest USA. He also served in the same role for the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the board of Scandinavian Park, representing our Finnish community. Oh, and did I mention that he received the Order of the Lion from the Finnish government?
It is my honor to introduce our next King. He’s been on the board since our days as an affiliate of the League of Finnish American Societies and continuing when we transitioned to our current affiliation with Finlandia Foundation National. I’d like to present to you a past president and currently our long serving treasurer.
He’s the man who greets you at the door – Steve Koivula!

Dear Finnish expatriate organisation out there in the world!
The secretariat of the Finnish Expatriate Parliament (FEP) thanks all expatriate Finnish organisations for participation in our May 2015 session via your motions for resolutions, your presence in the session itself and for having joined improvement of our joint matters.

The 2015 session adopted 41 resolutions. They were translated into Swedish and English and on the 27.10.2015 handed to State Secretary Ms Paula Lehtomäki who stood in for prime minister Mr Juha Sipilä. From the PM’s office, the resolutions will be passed on for a round of commentary in the Government.

You find the resolution compilation in the attachment. It is sent primarily by email. In your case the secretariat had a functioning email address. If your organization wishes to update its contact details, please get in touch with the secretariat (info@usp.fi) so that we can include them in our register. The resolutions are at our web site (Pdf version) -->
here: www.usp.fi > Session 2015, and here: www.usp.fi > Activity > Resolutions.

Best wishes and have a fine November!
Sini Castrén
parliament secretary